DenverInfill Blog

That's great! Maybe a contemporary artist such as PINK or JLo could do a cover of Joni Mitchell's old song! Have a good time in Portland Ken, it should be sunny this time of year. Don't forget to compare the highway system there. I thought it was better than Denver's even with a smaller population than here.
 

LOL Nice Ken I've been to Portland several times as a kid, it's a very nice place IMO... blm3034L!fe out!!!
 

Heck, their mass transit is some of the best in the US, despite how small the city is. Buncha pot smoking hippy weirdos.
 

The only thing that I like about DT Portland over Denver is the amount of retail. The rest is very overrated. I was dissapointed at my last visit to PDX. IMO the NW is getting better at having and urban feel to its downtowns, but San Fran is the only city on the west coast that has a good urban feel to it. I was in Portland a couple of times on the weekend and much of downtown was dead. There weren't many people out walking around or in the stores. Like I said that was my experience. Everyone has a different one.
 

I like the Starbucks sign in the background... :)
 

I agree with anon 9:18. I've only been to Portland 2-3 times, and that was in the late 1990's, but I just cannot warm up to the downtown area. I went expecting to be excited and awed by the area, but each time I left, I was glad to be coming back to Denver. I thought the first time, it might be due to being in a disappointing hotel (actually, I was in two disappointing hotels) and the cloudy weather. But the other times, it was sunny part of the time and the hotels were better. I can't really explain why. Just the vibes, I guess.

But I do know we can learn from the transit system and parking management policies, among other things.
 

Downtown Portland has changed a great deal since the late 90s with the emergence of the Pearl District, thier own Lodo size/style revitalization.

I think one need to spend more than a few days in the city to get a true feel for the city because it is so unique. The vibe is best summed up in the phrase, "Keep Portland Weird", I think. It's difficult to put into words, but until one understands why and how the community supports that phrase, it is difficult for other to understand a lot of the appeal of Portland.

Full diclosure: I grew up in Portland, but left before HS. I've always loved the city but didn't understand it until I spent time there years later. Maybe only Denver is better.
 

Anon 11:23, "Keep Portland Weird" was "borrowed" from Austin.
 

I lived in Portland from 2001-2006 while attending college but have otherwise lived in Denver my whole life. I'm sad to say it, but Portland has a much more vibrant, livable downtown than Denver. I'm really not sure what the posters on here who say otherwise witnessed while in Portland, but it certainly hasn't been my experience.

First off, almost all of downtown Portland is developed. There are hardly any surface parking lots to break up the urban feel, and the few that are there don't take up more that about 1/4th of a block. Also, Portland State, the biggest university in Oregon, is actually incorporated into the downtown unlike the Auraria Campus.

Portland's downtown core is set up to be very walkable. The blocks themselves are about half the size of blocks in Denver. There are a ton of trees and parks which make walking the streets more enjoyable than say, walking Broadway in Denver in 95 degree heat. Portland’s Park Blocks are 19 full-block parks that cut across downtown following Park Ave nearly uninterrupted. The picture Ken took is actually a parking lot they are ripping up to add a block to this system. One of my favorite things about Portland is that city ordinances require all developments in the downtown must incorporate some sort of public art. Hell, Portland even has a downtown block that's entirely a giant fountain people are encouraged to play in.

Just walking the streets of Portland you'll see many more people out and about as well as many more restaurants and retail spaces than in Denver. There are at least two grocery stores downtown (possibly more I can't remember) - a Safeway and a Whole Foods. The Pearl District is a bigger, and frankly better, LODO, although it is missing the sports factor the Rockies and Coors Field bring to Denver.

As for transit, Denver is way behind Portland. The bus and light rail (MAX) system in Portland is utilized much more there than ours. Most of the downtown core is a fare-free transit zone where you can take the buses and street cars, well, for free. Biking is actually encouraged, and the downtown is set up to have people bike the streets without fearing for their lives. Some streets even have metered spots that have been blocked off from cars and have had bike racks put in instead.

As for parking, there are over 4,000 spaces in publicly owned parking garages in the downtown. Parking in them costs $1.25 per hour, plus over 700 downtown businesses can validate two hours of parking. So, essentially, if you spend any money downtown you can park for free.

I love Denver and it has a lot of things going for it that Portland doesn't, but a vibrant downtown is not yet one of them.
 

I spent alot of time there as a kid in the 80's and a few times there as an adult as recent as summer '05.

Portland has great transit, something Denver can learn from. Retail in the downtown also something Denver can learn from. What I didn't like was the vibe of the people that lived there. It's hard to describe. I think it's more of an air of superiority that Portland is the best city blah blah. Yes, Denver has that too but more from people like us that read the blog and the SSP forums and such. A very small minority.

I also didn't get that energy vibe that you get in a vibrant downtown area. I think of San Fran, Chicago and so on. Denver has some, but still has alot of work to do. I believe that we are headed in the right direction.